Tennis: Stylish Pennetta marches on

Flavia Pennetta reached the final of the ASB Classic in 2010. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Flavia Pennetta became the first player to move through to the semifinals of the ASB Classic tennis tournament in Auckland when she easily disposed of Russian Elena Vesnina 6-2 6-1 today.

The fourth-seeded Italian was far too strong for Vesnina, who made too many errors to build any pressure on her higher-ranked opponent.

The day started badly for Vesnina when she dropped serve on the first game of the match and, although she fought back to 2-2, lost six consecutive games to hand Pennetta the initiative.

Pennetta, the 2010 beaten finalist, will play the winner of the next match between top seed Sabine Lisicki and fellow German Angelique Kerber.